Lost my headlight/gauge lights!

[BA80]

If you just run a jumper from the red/yellow to the blue/black you can just eliminate the relay and you headlight will just come on when you turn the key on.

[3Phase]

If you just run a jumper from the red/yellow to the blue/black you can just eliminate the relay and you headlight will just come on when you turn the key on.

Well, yeah, he already said he might have bypassed the relay but he wanted to test the relay to see if it still worked. I guess he wants to get rid of the jumper so he can use the relay to handle the power for the HID lights.


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[TopCatGr58]

Thanks Scott and Greg,

The wheel and final drive are fully reassembled and spinning smoothly, and I even remembered to fill the FD back up again with the 80-90 Castrol Gear oil I had.

What I had said was that I had already bypassed the RLU both because of it failing, and all of my other electrical mods....mini-alt and HID system. The headlight relay had been in place and working until recently. I put a 12V jumper wire to the white connector with the ignition key on, and the relay latched and my headlight came on. So..I thought the Diode was confirmed bad. I noted that when I pulled the relay from the harness plug, lots of corrosion flakes came out! So...I cleaned the contacts and the plug, and then put it back together thinking that perhaps it was just the corrosion that was keeping it from working!? Did a test firing of the engine, and no headlight. I then rejumped the white wire and this time, no latch!?!?

SO...I pulled the relay and bent back the sealing dimples, and pulled it apart, and there was a considerable amount of corrosion INSIDE the relay case, and upon close inspection some flakes had gotten between the relay lever and the magnet, so the latch couldn't throw! I took it apart(Carefully), cleaned up the contact with some 1000 grit paper, cleaned out the flaky stuff from the inside of the case, and put it all back together, and then put it on the bike. Test fired/started and still no headlight. Then Jumped the white wire and the relay latched=headlight.....thus confirming the dead diode!

Did a search to find what size diode I needed, Davinci stated as long as it was 1amp or bigger, but I found a variety of them, picked the 50 V and 1 amp size for $1.50 for 2. Crimped the connectors to it's ends and wired in inline bypassing the harness. I had split the 1 phase alt tap into 2, ran 1 to 1 pin in the harness that fed the tach, and the other to a second pin that fed the headlight relay. I had found which pin earlier when I had done the mini-alt mod.

Did a test fire/start and still no headlight! I swapped the mini-alt phase tap wires just to see, retested, still no headlight, but doing a 12V jump to the same wire WITH the diode inline and the relay lached=headlight! SO..I don't know what happened to the relay to where it would no longer work with the phase tap line off the mini-alt....it used to work, and the tach still worked, and it's charging, voltmeter still showing 13+ volts!?

SO....I said, screw it, I already had a 12 volt line at the handlebar for my aux lights. I made a new switch bracket to hold 2 switches, tapped the 12V+ line, ran a white wire from the handlebars to the relay switch, wired it all in, and it worked just fine. I will NOT leave the 12Volt power going to the relay all the time, will only throw the switch and confirm headlight, and then will throw it back off, so the headlight will shut off when I kill the bike!

Just an annoying PITA process....was the diode too small capacity to work??I know I had the polarity correct otherwise the 12V+ jump would not have worked, and Davinci had said to have the banded end towards the relay.

T.C.

[3Phase]

SO....I said....

Best thing to say after all that, really.

Take some time on a nice road to feel and appreciate just how well Godzilla runs with the new hassle and diode-free headlight switch, fresh grease in the bearing and Castrol in the pumpkin', then have a cold one!


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[TopCatGr58]

The Fun Continues!

Well,

I posted in the old CCT ALternative thread about my thoughts on the manual CCT Mod, and also about having to repair the turn signal wires in the handlebar switch!

Well, that was last week, and lastnight I was packing up the SUV, the trailer and was prepared to put Godzilla on it....rolled him out, put the key in, turned it to ON, and NADA! WTF!!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Battery was totally dead, and this was only the 2nd year of it's expected 3 year life cycle!? Pulled the main fuse, intact! Put the voltmeter on the battery, and less than 1 volt! SO....I apparently had a slow power drain on it during the weak. I looked at the AUX light switch...it's a double throw and I've bumped it before, but I notice when the main pair of 55 W halogens are ON ...but sometimes I hit it the other way which turns on the green accent lights,but it wasn't in the thrown position! I then thought...what else did I do...and I had rewired the headlight relay with the extra switch...and split the power (+) wire from my Aux Driving lights switch which is HOT all the time! And after having run the bike for a little bit last week, I had LEFT the relay switch in the ON position.

With the key OFF, the headlight is not ON, so I thought there wouldn't be a power drain, but apparently there IS! SO...I flipped the switch to the OFF position. I then attached my 2amp/12V charger, let it charge for an hour and the voltage was back up to 10.5V. I put my booster/jumper battery device on it, and was able to get the bike started so I could load it on the trailer. I then reattached the 2Amp charger and let it run overnight. I haven't tried to see what the voltage is now...I was in a hurry to get on my trip....15 hour drive down to Enterprise, Al. from the Norfolk, VA area, and then I hit all of that RAIN today!!!! IT was still drizzling when arrived, so just rolled the bike off the trailer to uncompress the front forks/springs. IF it's stopped raining tomorrow, I check it out then.

NOW THE QUESTION. I've heard/read that if a lead/acid battery is allowed to fully discharge/drain that it cause excessive sulfates to form on the plates which will prevent it from accepting a full charge back to normal?

IS this true....or what?? I brought my charger with me on the trip, and IF the battery won't start the bike alone, then I can get a replacement from Wallyworld, and can do the proper PreCharge before installing and putting to use, like I did with this NEW 2 y/o Battery.

T.C.

[TopCatGr58]

The Fun Continues!

Well,

I posted in the old CCT ALternative thread about my thoughts on the manual CCT Mod, and also about having to repair the turn signal wires in the handlebar switch!

Well, that was last week, and lastnight I was packing up the SUV, the trailer and was prepared to put Godzilla on it....rolled him out, put the key in, turned it to ON, and NADA! WTF!!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Battery was totally dead, and this was only the 2nd year of it's expected 3 year life cycle!? Pulled the main fuse, intact! Put the voltmeter on the battery, and less than 1 volt! SO....I apparently had a slow power drain on it during the week. I looked at the AUX light switch...it's a double throw and I've bumped it before, but I notice when the main pair of 55 W halogens are ON ...but sometimes I hit it the other way which turns on the green accent lights,but it wasn't in the thrown position! I then thought...what else did I do...and I had rewired the headlight relay with the extra switch...and split the power (+) wire from my Aux Driving lights switch which is HOT all the time! And after having run the bike for a little bit last week, I had LEFT the relay switch in the ON position.

With the key OFF, the headlight is not ON, so I thought there wouldn't be a power drain, but apparently there IS! SO...I flipped the switch to the OFF position. I then attached my 2amp/12V charger, let it charge for an hour and the voltage was back up to 10.5V. I put my booster/jumper battery device on it, and was able to get the bike started so I could load it on the trailer. I then reattached the 2Amp charger and let it run overnight. I haven't tried to see what the voltage is now...I was in a hurry to get on my trip....15 hour drive down to Enterprise, Al. from the Norfolk, VA area, and then I hit all of that RAIN today!!!! IT was still drizzling when arrived, so just rolled the bike off the trailer to uncompress the front forks/springs. IF it's stopped raining tomorrow, I check it out then.

NOW THE QUESTION. I've heard/read that if a lead/acid battery is allowed to fully discharge/drain that it cause excessive sulfates to form on the plates which will prevent it from accepting a full charge back to normal?

IS this true....or what?? I brought my charger with me on the trip, and IF the battery won't start the bike alone, then I can get a replacement from Wallyworld, and can do the proper PreCharge before installing and putting to use, like I did with this NEW 2 y/o Battery.

T.C.

[CaptonZap]

With apologies to Motoman,


http://batteryminders.com/details.php?prod=12117

http://www.amazon.com/BatteryMINDer-...ews/B005EKY20K

http://www.tecmate.com/u_optimate_3plus.php

If your battery was not discharged for more than a day or two, chances are that using it, after a recharge, will get it back to some semblance of it's former glory.
And one of the above units would be a good investment. I have both, in use, and they keep the batteries up, without constant water addition necessary.
CZ

[BA80]

Go ahead and put the 2amp charge on it TC. It should be OK if it worked fine before. I've run them completely dead before and recharged them and they've lasted years beyond.

Unless you are uncomfortable with it I wouldn't mess with replacing it now.

[skids]

Well TC, you wouldn't want to ruin a biking trip. I had a lead acid battery that suddenly started failing. When I put the charger on it it LOOKED like it was charging up, but when I thrned the key to start the bike, the indicators dimmed very quickly. No capacity left.

Here is what I found with Walmart's Everstart battery: There really isn't quite enough acid to fill the cells to the low mark. I recommend that you add acid to each sell equally by alternating cells. That way when you run out, at least you will have equal acid in each cell. Then add distilled water to bring up the levels to spec. Otherwise you will be sucking acid with the container and tubing to redistribute acid.

[BA80]

The battery isn't "failing" skids, he just left some lights on over night and ran it down.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Greg,

Actually I left the headlight RELAY switch ON, but no lights...so it was a rather SLOW drain! But the plot thickens..I checked the voltage and it was just at 12, and dropped to a little below 10 during cranking....but it did start. But I have the DynaTek coils, and so they may work better/stronger with lower voltages than the OEMs...and so perhaps why it started even with voltages below the usual 10.5 no start range we've all learned and experienced.

SO..I pulled the battery out, and dang it if a few of the cells were a bit dry, exposed! I've topped up all of the cells, and have it on the charger now at 2 amps, and will let it run all day...it's an automatic charger with shut off, so I won't worry about boiling the battery. Some of the cells were not dry, just a couple, and they were in the middle, not at the end near the vent tube?? Oh well, I'm sure it'll be fine once it's fully charged again, and I have my booster if necessary....until next year when I will probably replace it...probably should get a GEL or No Maintanence style.....this loosing water thing is a PITA and it's a PITA to have to take the seat off and such to get to the battery and take it out!

T.C.

[BA80]

Yeah, I usually check the electrolyte level in the battery a couple times a year. I got a big syringe for injecting stuff into BBQ meats and can fill the battery without taking it out. No getting around taking the seat off though.

[IanDMacDonald]

Dang, remind me to never eat BBQ at your house Greg!

[BA80]

The only thing that's ever been in it is distilled water and fork oil. I don't use that one for BBQ, I keep it in the tool box.

It works good for measuring oil for shock and fork filling too.

[IanDMacDonald]

Yes, sir, great idea. My dad had one for his XS. I found it and claimed it for myself last year. So far I've used it for a front brake job (pushed the fluid up from the caliper), and battery stuff.